Nail-forming machine



March 16,1926. 1,577,266

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NAIL FORMING MACHINE Filed u y 11. 1922 1 9 Sheets-Sheet 9 I I ii lllln 171%)? for:

Patented Mar. 16, 1926.

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CARL A. POBATH AND GEORGE N. WILLIAMS, OF KOKOMO, INDIANA, ASSIGNORS OF ONE-HALF TO KGKGI /IO STEEL AND WIRE COMEANY, OF KOKOMO, INDIANA, A COR- PORATION OF INDIANA.

NAIL-FQRD'IING MACHINE.

Application filed July 11,

T (e71 whom it may concern: I

Be it known that we, CARL A. PORATH and Grouse L lVILLIAMs, both citizens of the United States, residing'at Kokomo, in the county of Howard and State of Indiana,

have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Nail-Forming Machines, of which the following is a specification.

The machine of this invention is intended primarily to cut and form a wire nail having a wide flat head of a character suitable for the fastening of felt composition or similar roofing materials which require either awide headed nail or a tin washer in order to secure sutlicient gripping contact to prevent tearing away of the roofing material, although the machine is equally adapted for the manufacture of screws and bolts as well as nails. I

The present invention is designed to produce such a nail having a head diameter greater than that which can commonly be produced by machines of the types which have come under our observation, thereby in most cases eliminating the necessity for the use of washers in connection with the nails so produced.

' In the formation of a wire nail, it is customary to feed forward a length of wire suiiici'ent to form the head and shank of the nail and thereafter grip the wire within dies, and then subject the projecting portion to the compressive action of a former, which upsets or distorts the metal laterally to produce a flat head. The capacity of the metal to respond, when cold, to such distorting forces is limited, and if exceeded will result in a rupture of the metal and a corresponding impairment of the head .1 v

.The present invention centers primarily around the provision of a forming head or die which performs the upsetting action in two operations instead of one, which has heretofore been the customary practice in so far as our observation has extended. In the first upsetting operation the forming die eng2 sthe projecting wire blank in acupped oi iecessed portion of the head, which serves to distort or upset the metal to a limited (lo- 1922. Serial No. 574,146.

gree, forming thereon a somewhat elongated and considerably enlarged preliminary head. lhe die or forming head then retreats sufnciently to clea' the preliminary nail head thus formed, and is then turned suiiiciently to present a flat or uncupped surface to the partially formed nail head, so that upon the second advance of the former the initially distorted metal will be compressed and flattened to the desired degree without disruption, thus completing the formation of the nail head in two stages rather than one.

The invention also relates to the means provided for supporting and backing the forming tool, so that the reaction of itsv apply loads amounting to several tons to the forming head or die, which leads, if they react upon the operating or rotating portions f the mechanism, tend to cause excessive wear or possible breakage.

Theinvention further relates to the means for gripping the wire blank during the nail forming operation, and to the means for operatingthe grippers in such manner as to reduce the thrust and wear on the operative portions of the mechanism, and to the features of construction and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawings:

Figure l'is atop or plan tire machine;

Fig. 9. is a side elevation, with the driving pulleys partially broken away;

Fig. 3 is a cross sectional elevation on line of Fig.2, looking in thedirection of view of the en- U U the arrows;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged side elevational detail of the mechanism for clamping, cutting and forming the nail head, together with the cams for actuating the-same;

Fig. 5 is a planview of the cam shaft, cams and associated parts;

- Fig. 6 is an enlarged detail showing the ii ll c t; the i s, and

a \"1 and anvil in the act oi l'orniine; the pielitni nar conical head on the nail hlanh:

liie. 113 is a similar view ehowin! the. same. inechanisn in the operation of flattening: the

previously 'l orined eonieal nail head;

l iu. ll a perspective view of one of the eonnvletml nails: and

i ter. l5 is a deta l oi t e li'eeding gripper. The snaehine 1552i wlude it: inotnittal upon a hed plate :B' or nun-sire mitet'ruetion. pro vided at its forward end with an upstant'liiu: tahle tranie fit. and at its rear end with a littt'li tranze ill", hoth the struetnre are of 1.

forming the. nail head.

The l eu-ward end of the machine. that is to say, the end at whieh t ie wire enters. provided with z suitahle [lat tahle plate 2:3 which furnishes an elerated sn n ort for the positioningp; ot the nieelulnisins most intimately or innnetliateljr conrerned in the feeding, clamping. fl tilitllilfj, and cutting ipeations whieh follow in the sequence nained: that. is to L the wire C(llillllfjf troni the eel is tied forward to the degree reqnisite to allow of the protrusion required to zu'eonnnodate the upsetting; ot the head; next :l'ollows the clamping of the wire in this position: next tlollows the two head torining operations; and finally the completed nail is severed and tflelivm'ed.

Still The wire coming from the reel passes through a straigrhtener :33 of the llfittttl. character, eoinprisinu a. pluralit} oi stag ered straighteniiur rolla iB-l. which atraigrhtcnier is holted or otherwise secured to the exreine. forward end oi the supporting; tiahle lrotn the raigzhtener the wire p; t; to th feeding g n ier 1'35, which i a slidor end of the slot. and slip freely alone; the wlre preparatory to the taking oi the next succeeding grip thereon. The means tor imparting reei1 rocation to the :leedingg grip ier will he later descrihed.

The wire pushed Forward the t nd r ente s an aperture 29 in a heavy anvil hlocl: ltl rigidly mounted upon the tahle which anvil hloek is recessed to house a center hloclc ill provided with a redueed registering aperture 32. The anvil hlock Elli, on, its rear face, is provided with a. cross recess having upper walls 33 and lower walls til, the latter of which is downwardly beveled to atiord an tlntltlt'ftll', which undercut cooperates with a. similar heveled edege on a gih Z35 seated against the top wall 33 in atlording: an undercut guide. channel for the housing ol? aligned fixed and mo ahle (.lainping' jaws fit and 34', each of which is provided on its inner face with. a halt circular serrated reeess filth so related that when thejzwsarc hrougght together the) will furnish a e vlindri -al serrated here within \Ylllt'l] the wire is rigidly elantped against recession when suhieeted to the heavy pressure of the forming die. 'lhe 'lorniiation oi these parts is hese illustrated in Figs. 11,12 and 13, from which it will he seen that the ,egihs are secured in place within the anvil hloch 1) means of holts 39. adjustahle set screws l-t) heingr provided to lock the gihs tightly in position.

The movable jaw is toreed inwardly by contact 0t an adjustable screw stop 4.1 entered through a lug 42 on the inner corner of a lever arm 4:3 (see Figs. 1 and 11.). which is pivoted to a post ell: ttptitfll'ltllllfl from the table at a point forwardly and to one, side of the anvil block. A spring 4L5 secured to the lever arm tends to retract the sanug and the love arm on its outer edge is recessed to all'ord a housing for roller it which co-operates with a lined roller kl? jmirnalled lJtJiJWLUIl a pair of lugs 18 upstanding from the corner ot the tahle. iletween the rollers is located a vertically inevahle wedge ll-l) carried by a shaul: 50, which. at recurrent intervals will he thrust; u nvardlv between the rollers, thereby roeltinga the lever arm on its pivot and causing the niovahle clanu'iing jaw 37 to engage. the wire. Since only a slight positive action is required to retract the illOYfllJlG jaw a wire connection 51 provided between the lug -12 and the inovahle jaw which se res to retract the latter when the. lever arm is pulled haul; non the reeeseion of the wedge by the no tion of the e nfinp; l5.

Immediately behind and in alignii'ient. with the anvil it; lo fated the 'torinerdie :79, (see Figs. 8, 9, 10, 12 and 13), which die is in the term of a oylii'ulrieal hammer head having a Hat face 53, and the head is provided with an eeeentrieallv positioned hore :i-l which receives a. forming tool provided in its forward end with a conical recess 56 of a size and shape to engage and upset the protruding end of the wire in the preliminary forming operation. The center of the recessed forming tool 55, when in operating position, is coincident with the wire line which brings the center of the forming die slightly above the wire line. It is to be observed, however, that by slightly turning orrotating theforming die a flush or unbroken surface will be presented to the wire line, and this is the method of operation followed in preparation for the final advance of the die against the partially formed nail head, which is flattened out or widely distended during the final operation.

The forming die is secured to the end of a shank 57 by means of a screw coupling 58, which shank is of heavy and rugged formation and is socketed within and pro trudes from the forward end of a recipr cating cylindrical slide block 59, being locked therein by means of a pair of set screws 60. The slide block 59 is slidably mounted within a cylindrical bushing 61 carried within a bored head 62 upstanding from a base plate 63, which is bolted or otherwise secured to the table plate 22 (see Fig. 7

The slide block 59 has entered therethr-ough a cross bar 64, the ends of which protrude on opposite sides and constitute outstanding wings which are entered through registering slots 65 and 66 in the bushing and head respectively, which slots are elongated to permit the necessary reciprocation of the cylindrical block during its advance and recession toward and from the anvil block, and are oflateral dimension suflicient to permit of the limi-ted'rocking movement necessary in bringing the recessed forming tool into and out of coincidence with the wire line during the first and second stages of the forming operation.

The bed plate 62 has depending therefrom a pair of slotted guide lugs 67 which extend through "the table plate 22 and aiford a slidable mounting for a pair of oppositely disposed companion push bars 68, the upper ends of which are sufficiently elongated, fore and aft, to engage the lateral wings of the cross bar 64 in all fore and aft positions of the latters adjustment, and these push bars are adaptedto move vertically in alternation to one another so as to impart rotative movements to the cylindrical block in timed relation to the advance and recession thereof, andthese push bars are pivoted to links 69 provided with adjustable turn buckles 70, which links are adapted tojbe actuated by means presently to be described. The push bars are adjusted to rigidly hold the forming die against turning during the two nail forming operations which is essential in order to present the intended portions of the die to the wire line.

The rear end of the slide block 59 is recessed to receive a bearing block 71, held in place by a threaded bushing 71, which hearing block isbifurcated to receive the forward end of a toggle link 72, which is pivoted thereto by a pivot pin 73 (see Fig. 10). The rear end of the toggle link is pivoted to the forward end of a thrust link 74:, which inturn is pivoted at its rear end within a bifurcated adjustable bearing head 75 by means of a pivot pin 76, the bifurcated bearing head being socketed within a recess 77 in the top of the massive rear frame 21, which portion of the structure is reinforced by the provision of a pair of tie rods 78 entered through lugs 79 located on opposite sides of the rear frame, which'tie rods extend longitudinally of the machine and are anchored at their forward ends 80 to the forward frame so that the thrust imparted to the rear frame by the action of the toggle mechanism is distributed in part to the forward portion of the machine.

In order to adjustably anchor the bearing head 75 within the rear frame, the shank 81 of the bearing head is provided with a tapered cross slot which receives a wedge bar 82 on opposite sides of the head of the frame, and the reduced end of the wedge bar terminates in a threaded stem 84 which receives a nut 85 which may be tightened to hold the wedge in adjusted position after it has been driven to place. The shank of the bearing head terminates in a threaded stem 86 which receivesa nut 87 hearing against a washer 88 which contacts the rear face of-the'rear frame head, thus providing for the longitudinal adjustment of the toggle.

The relation of the toggle link 72 to the thrust link 74: is such that the blow on the die head will be delivered when these two toggle members are in their straightened or aligned position, so that the line of reaction will coincide with the axial, alignment of thesetoggle members, and this thrust will be received against the rugged rear portion of the machine, which is constructed in such a way as to afford abundant resistance to this thrust, which is extreme-in the practical opniaiu l ranie at a point intermediate its ends, and inner journals 9h oppositely located in close pro:-;,i1nity to the crank 93. The cam arranaeincnt is illustrated in Figs. 4: and

l eedinp grippers mounted on the sliding carriapge it; are rcciprocatcd by the action of a ltllllIlllttlllltlllF extending pitinan t)? which is pivoted at its torward end to the outer end ol the carriage and pivoted at its rear end to a pivot block 98 which is adjustahlc within a slot till in a swin ig'ing" lever artn ltltl rigidly secured at its lower end to the outwardly protruding portion of a stuh shat't ltll journallcd through the side oi? the l l'tlll'lki which shaft at its inner end carries upper and lower arias ltlll n'iountine rollers lll l which coact in alternation with com panion can elements loton the rain shaft. which :n'ranp'cnicnl a ll'ords aaeitivc hacl; and forth nuivenicnts to the pitnian, in tiincd relation to one another.

For operatin; the jaw $17. the shank :30 which earrii-s the wedge head tit) is pivoted at its lower end on a pin 10?) within the hil'urratcd cud toe. ot a rmglzing: lever 107 carried hr at l ulcruni ton soclteted within a mounting, lt tl in the side of the tranie. and the rear end of the lever id? is itorlted to allord an upper inwardly oli'sct arin ill) and a lower plane arni ill, which arnis terminate in l'lli lll'Cittttl heads 112 and 112:3 respectively. each carrying: a roller 11%. The two rollers ride upon con'ipanion oppositely acting); can! elements 115 and 11th the former of which op rates to throw up the wcdpgc and therchv close the grippers, and the latter of which e'l'lects a release therco'l.

The links (it) which operate the push hars (38 for imparting tilting or rocking to the die head are pivoted at their lower ends to the forward ends of levers l1? and US, which levers. hcingg' oi the lirst order, are :tulcrunicd upon the opposite ends of a centrally supported transversely extending stuh shatt 1th. The :torward ends of the respective levers are inturucrl toward the longitudinal center ol? the machine (see lliip 5) to ac connnodate the position oi the linlrs with which they connect; and the rail ends are hi'lurral'ed to receive a roller each. which rollers cup-inc the under Faces of oppositely :7 tilt) and lilll. 1'cinicctively which atiord the alternating naireinci'its required. The final severing;- ot the completed nail eti ccted by the means shown in Fig". 6. 'lhesc inc-ans tanrnnriac inipos' ly disposed cutters ll iach carried hy side plate 193 mounted in a housing 1:24; secured to the tahle plate 2:3 at a point slightly to the rear of the anvil surt'ace upon which the nail head 'a formed. so that. after the completion ot the nail head, the wire will he advanced tufliciently to provide a completed nail and a. sutlicietrt amount of protruding wire to provide for the fornnition of the next sucmenace ceeding nail head. Each slide plate 123 is provided near its outer end with a diagonaflh ly dispose-d slot 125, beyond which the plate terminates in a cylindrical guide stud 126 slidahly mounted within a guide block 127 secured to the tahle plate. In and out motions of the coacting cutters are attended by up and down inoveinentis cl? :1 pair of vertically disposed slide hars 128 mounted in guide plates hill, each of which slide ha rs is provided near its uper end, on its face, with a. roller 1.530, which rollers engage the diagonally disposed slots in the respective slide plates lit?) and ett'cet reciprocations thcreot. l -lach slide har 1% has pivoted to its lower end a linlt 131, to which links, in turn, are pivoted. respectively, a pair of rocker arins l-lil and 13 rigidly mounted upon a transversely extending; rock shatt 13 l- (see Fig. suitably join-nailed at its ends to the frame of the machine.

The rocker arin 132 has rearwardly extending: thcrctroin an actuating; lever 135, which is hitureated at: its rear end to atl'ord a lovi'er arm 1% and an upper ottset arm 13?, each o'l. which carries a roller 138. The roller on the lower arm is engaged by a cam element 139, while the roller on the upper arm engages an oppositely acting caln elen'ieut lelt), tor clleeting the cutting and return movements in timed relation. It will ct L'O111.'t5t he understood that the various earns are carefully (ainiligured to accurately time the various operations in prop-er sequence to one another, and since the cutting oil cams is a feature of design well understood hy those skilled in the art oil: machine canistruction, it is not deemed necessary to tturther delineate the cam C()I1Si'tl1tll()ll.

In. operatioi'i, the wire threaded through the strai hteniug rolls is carried through the :tecdii'ig grippers and through the clan'iping jaws, and the machine is then started. after which the nail forming operation will pro reed contiiniously and auton'iatically. Sutiticient wire stock is projected to the griping; jaws to form the head of a. nail, after which, in tiincd relation, the gripping aws will he clamped by the action of the wedge head, which rocks the gripping arin 4:3 inwardly under heavy compression, and with it the movable clan'iping jaw, in conjunction with the tiircd jaw, hites into the wire, thereby forming the necessary serrations in the nail shanle and at the same time gripping the wire against the subsequent action of the die head.

The die head next advances with the, cupped forming tool presented to the wire line, and under the heavy thrust of the toggle mechanism, resisted hy the massive frame of the machine, the initial heading operation is iertori'ned, with the parts in the position indicated in Fig. 2. Thereafter a quarter rotation of the driving shaft 94L serves to retract the die forming head which is concurrently tilted or rotated to the degree necessary to present'a flat or uncupped surface to the wire line, so that, with the continued rotation of the shaft through the next ninety degrees, the toggle members will be again drawn into alignment and a final heading thrust imparted to the die head, which hammers down and spreads out the preliminary headed nail stoclrto form a broad flat head of the character indicated in Fig. 14. The continued rotation of the shaft again retracts the formingfdie from the now completed nail, and the cutters advance and sever the nail, leaving sufficient stock protruding to provide for a subsequent operation. Concurrently with the cutting of the completed nail, the tilting devices operate: to tilt or rock the die forming head to again present the cupped forming tool to the wire line, and the operation proceeds uninterruptedly in the manner stated.

ations above defined are performed under the positive action of the cams, save only the release of the gripping jaws, which is effected by the tensioning of the spring 45. The clamping and heading devices are both actuated by means which serve, at the critical moment, to impose the reactive thrusts against rugged and substantial portions of the structure, so that the cams, journals and rotating parts generally are relieved in large measure from excessive burdens, which would tend to cause wear and deterioration of the mechanism.

The toggle arrangement is so designed that it gives two blows with each rotation of the crank, and these blows are delivered ith the toggle in straightened or aligned position so as to relieve the crank from the reaction at the instant of striking.

Although the device has been described with particularity as to detail, it will be understood that the general arrangement of the machine may be varied or modified within a considerable range without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Ye claim:

1. In a nail forming machine, the combination of means for feeding a section of nail stock, a cupped rotatably mounted longitudinally movable die member, means for longitudinally moving the die member and oppositely disposed push bars engaging the die memoer in all positions of longitudinal movement for rocking the same and holding the same in adjusted position during the nail forming operations, substantially as described. v

2. In a nail formingmachine, the combi nation of means for feeding forward a length of nail stock, grippers for engaging said nail stock, a rotatively mounted reciprocating header provided with a dished surface and with a flattening surface, means for initially rotating the header to bring the dished surface to the wire line to form a preliminary head and for thereafter rotating the header to present a flattening surface to the wire line to spread the preliminary formed head laterally, and means for reciprocating the header, substantially as described.

3. In a nail forming machine, the combination of means for .feeding forward a lengtlrof nail stock, grippers for engaging the nail stock, a rotatably mounted reciproeating former provided in its acting end with a dished surface and a flattening surface, laterally extending wings on the former, alternately reciprocating members for engaging said wings in all positions of reciprocation thereof, and means for reciprocating the former, substantially as described.

at. In a nail forming machine, the combination of means for feeding forward a It will be observed that all of the operlength of nail stock, grippers for engaging the nail stock, a rotatably mounted reciprocating former provided in its acting end with a dished surface and a flattening surface, laterally extending wings on the former, alternately reciprocating members for engaging said wings in all positions of reciprocation thereof, and toggle devices for reciprocating the header, substantially as described.

5. In a nail forming machine, the combination of feeding devices for recurrently advancing the nail stock, an anvil block through which the nail stock is fed, fixed and movable gripping jaws mounted within the anvil block, a rocking lever provided with a contact for the movable jaw, a recip rocating wedge element for recurrently acting upon the rocking lever, a rotatably mounted reciprocating header provided in its acting face with a dished surface and a flattening surface, means for rocking the former to alternately present the dished surface and the flattening surface to the wire line, a cam shaft provided with a cranked portion, cams and connections for operating the feeding, gripping and former tilting devices in timed relation, toggle devices for reciprocating the former, and a pitman connecting said toggle devices with the cranked portion of the cam shaft, substantially as described.

6. In a nail forming machine, the combination of feeding devices for recurrently advancing the nail stock, an anvil block through which the nail stock is fed, fixed and movable gripping jaws mounted within the anvil block, a rocking lever provided with a contact for the movable jaw, a reciprocating wedge element for recurrently acting upon the rocking lever, a rotatably mounted reciprocating header provided in its acting face with a dished surface and a flattening surface, means for rocking the former to alternately present the dished snrlace and tho flattening surface to the Wire line, a cum shnt't provided with a cranked portion, cams and connections for operating the "Feeding, gripping and former tilting devices in timed relation, toggle devices for recipromting the former, :1 pit-man connecting said toggle devices with the cranked p0rtion 01? the cam shaft, and a rigid backing for the toggles, the latter being designed to stand in aligned relation to the wire line at the instant of heading, substantially as descrihvd.

CARL A. POBATH. GEORGE N. WILLIAMS. 

